Tesla promises to scale production in 2016

Tesla Motors says it plans to scale well beyond the 50,580 electric cars it produced in 2015.

In a release on Sunday, the company said electric SUV production “has been increasing exponentially. The company says its already on track to produce 238 Model X SUVs per week.

The company also unveiled how many of its customers got their cars in 2015. Deliveries were at the low end of the guidance CEO Elon Musk gave in October of “between 50,000 and 55,000.”

In March Musk said Tesla would reach 55,000.

There is reason for hope. While not complete, Tesla’s “Gigafactory” in Nevada is coming along nicely, and the company is now selling and churning out more vehicles than ever.

The Model X reached customers in September and Tesla delivered 208 of them last quarter and another 299 are prepped for delivery early this year, Tesla said Sunday.

The company’s goal is to produce 1,600 Model X and Model S cars a week by the end of 2016.

Tesla is also expecting more customers to opt for upgrades and add-on features for the Model X in 2016. If that goal is met it could drive up profits for the company as it continues to burn through cash in the hopes of reaching an economy of scale.

Tesla shares are up 11% since its last sales report was released in November 2015.

John Howard is the Business Editor at BusinessPundit.com. He is an avid watcher of markets, a wallflower of retail, and a fan of disruptive businesses that utilize technology and unique ideas to form brilliant new ways of doing business. He can be reached at College Reviews.